---
title: "Film festival ticketing questions answered"
description: "Get straight answers to 21 questions film festivals ask, from what your buyers pay and when your ticket money reaches you to how your team runs the day."
canonical: "https://www.ticketfairy.com/solutions/film-festivals/questions"
---

1. [Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/)
2. [Solutions](https://www.ticketfairy.com/solutions)
3. [Film festivals](https://www.ticketfairy.com/solutions/film-festivals)
4. Film festival ticketing: your questions answered

# Film festival ticketing: your questions answered

  [Get started free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome?utm_source=compare&utm_campaign=solutions-film-festivals-questions) [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo)

- **21** questions answered
- **19** pages that show you how

Here you can find out who pays the booking fee, when your ticket money reaches you and how you fill quieter weekday screenings. You can also see which passes you can sell, what happens to your audience's bookings when a screening is canceled, how Fai helps you schedule each cinema without clashes, and how your volunteers scan every cinema door on their own phones.

1. [How does Fai work out when a screening ends?](#how-does-fai-work-out-when-a-screening-ends)
2. [Which passes can I sell for my film festival?](#which-passes-can-i-sell-for-my-film-festival)
3. [What happens to reservations when a screening is canceled?](#what-happens-to-reservations-when-a-screening-is-cancelled)
4. [Can one screening have fewer seats than its cinema?](#can-one-screening-have-fewer-seats-than-its-cinema)
5. [Can my box office sell tickets at the cinema door?](#can-my-box-office-sell-tickets-at-the-cinema-door)
6. [Can a festival pass get into more than one screening a day?](#can-a-festival-pass-get-into-more-than-one-screening-a-day)
7. [How do I keep industry screenings off my public event page?](#how-do-i-keep-industry-screenings-off-my-public-event-page)
8. [Can I email only the people with tickets for one screening?](#can-i-email-only-the-people-with-tickets-for-one-screening)
9. [Can a small film festival use Ticket Fairy?](#can-a-small-film-festival-use-ticket-fairy)
10. [Who pays the booking fee, us or the buyer?](#who-pays-the-booking-fee-us-or-the-buyer)
11. [When do we get our ticket money?](#when-do-we-get-our-ticket-money)
12. [Can I show festival passes apart from single screenings on my event page?](#can-i-show-festival-passes-apart-from-single-screenings-on-my-event-page)
13. [Can buyers pick their seat for a screening?](#can-buyers-pick-their-seat-for-a-screening)
14. [How do press and industry guests get their passes?](#how-do-press-and-industry-guests-get-their-passes)
15. [Can a film club sell one pass for a season of monthly screenings?](#can-a-film-club-sell-one-pass-for-a-season-of-monthly-screenings)
16. [How do I get more people into my weekday afternoon screenings?](#how-do-i-get-more-people-into-my-weekday-afternoon-screenings)
17. [Can schools and groups get a lower price per ticket?](#can-schools-and-groups-get-a-lower-price-per-ticket)
18. [Can buyers get a refund if they cannot come?](#can-buyers-get-a-refund-if-they-cannot-come)
19. [Can I ask my audience what they thought after closing night?](#can-i-ask-my-audience-what-they-thought-after-closing-night)
20. [Can I sell a festival as a present?](#can-i-sell-a-festival-as-a-present)
21. [Can my volunteers scan tickets without seeing our sales?](#can-my-volunteers-scan-tickets-without-seeing-our-sales)

## How does Fai work out when a screening ends?

Fai adds the film's running time, and the Q&A when the screening has one, to its start time. A Q&A with no length set adds 15 minutes. You can also give her the end time yourself.

Fai can schedule a screening with its film, its cinema and its start time. She takes the film's running time, adds the Q&A when the screening has one, and saves the result as the end time. When you give her an end time yourself, she uses yours instead.

Before she saves the screening, she checks that cinema for another screening in the same hours. If one overlaps, she refuses the new one and names the film it clashes with, so you move one of them to a free time or another cinema. A canceled screening never counts as a clash.

Fai shows you each change before she makes it, and nothing is saved until you approve it.

[See what Fai can do on your festival](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/fai)

## Which passes can I sell for my film festival?

You can sell an all-access pass, a day pass, a pass for the cinemas you choose and a credit pass with a set number of screenings, and Fai can set up each one. Each pass can have the date and time it starts and stops working.

An all-access pass lets its holder reserve any screening. A credit pass carries the number of screenings you choose, and each reservation uses one credit. A pass can be limited to the cinemas you name, such as the two that show your competition films.

With the date and time a pass starts and stops working, it reserves screenings only inside those times. A day pass starts and stops on the same day. A credit pass also stops reserving when its credits run out.

Each pass sells as its own ticket type on your festival, such as Festival pass, Day pass or Five-film pass, with its own price. Fai can set up the pass that goes with each ticket, and she shows you the pass before she creates it.

[Set up the ticket types you sell for your passes](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/set-up-ticket-types)

## What happens to reservations when a screening is canceled?

All reservations on it are canceled, including people already checked in, and each screening credit goes back to its pass so the holder can reserve another film.

Fai can cancel the screening for you. Fai cancels every reservation on it, including people already checked in, because the screening will not take place. Each credit pass gets its credit back, so its holder can reserve another film straight away.

A pass holder can also cancel their own reservation until they are checked in, and the credit comes back in the same way. Once a reservation is checked in, the holder cannot cancel it.

Your audience can hear what changed on the same day. When the screening is its own ticket type, you can email the holders of that ticket type alone, and change your program page to match.

[Email the people who hold tickets for one screening](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/email-your-buyers)

## Can one screening have fewer seats than its cinema?

Yes. That screening can have its own number of seats, for example to keep rows back for guests. All other screenings in the cinema keep the cinema's number.

Each cinema has its own number of seats, and every screening in it takes that number until you give the screening its own. Fai can set the seats for one screening, such as an opening gala where you keep two rows back for guests and filmmakers.

Reservations stop when that screening is full, and two people can never both take its last seat. To change the number for every screening in a cinema, you change the cinema's own number of seats instead.

[Ask Fai to change a screening for you](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/fai)

## Can my box office sell tickets at the cinema door?

Yes. Your door team sells walk-up tickets from the Entry Fairy app they scan with, and takes cash on any phone. To take card, phone or watch taps, your team needs a compatible Android phone, your payment processing account must be in a country where tap to pay works, the event's venue must be in that same country, and your business or venue address must be complete.

Your box office sells walk-up tickets in the Entry Fairy app, from the same ticket types as your event page, so nothing sells twice. Each cinema door can sell at the same time. You set up card payments once, on your payment processing account, and you do not set up each phone.

If a phone does not offer card taps, the app names the reason, such as an event with no venue or a business address that is not complete. Fix what it names, and the option appears within a minute. Cash works on any phone that runs the app, and you can still use a card machine you already own alongside it.

Box Office Sales shows each sale by seller or by date, with cash and card apart, so you settle up with each seller at the end of the day.

[See how check-in and the box office work](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/check-in-and-box-office)

## Can a festival pass get into more than one screening a day?

Yes. You turn on repeat scanning for the pass ticket type and set how many scans each day allows. A ticket for one screening admits its holder once.

On Tickets, the pass ticket type has Ticket Rules. You turn on Tickets can be scanned multiple times per event, choose Day in Time Period and enter in Max Scans the number of screenings a holder can attend each day. You then save the ticket type.

The app counts the scans in the 24 hours before each new scan, so the day moves with the pass instead of starting again at midnight. Add rule sets a second limit, such as one scan an hour, and the app admits the holder only while both limits have room.

Scan one test pass before your first screening, then again inside the limit and after it, so your door team knows what each result looks like.

[Set entry and repeat-scan rules for your passes](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/set-ticket-entry-and-repeat-scan-rules)

## How do I keep industry screenings off my public event page?

You can hide the industry ticket type and attach it to a promotion with no discount. People who enter your access code see it at its normal price, and nobody else does.

On the industry ticket type, you turn on Hidden, choose Always hidden and save it. In Marketing, under Promotions, you create a promotion such as Industry access, add the code you plan to share, and attach the ticket type with No Discount. With Auto-apply when cart reaches this many tickets left empty, only the code reveals it.

Your event link and the code go to buyers, programmers and press. They enter the code on your event page, and the industry ticket appears at its normal price. A private browser window lets you test it first: nothing should show before you enter the code, and the ticket should show after it.

Anyone with the code can use it while the promotion is on, so replace the code and save the promotion if it reaches the wrong people.

[Open hidden industry tickets with an access code](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/unlock-hidden-tickets-with-an-access-code)

## Can I email only the people with tickets for one screening?

Yes, when the screening is its own ticket type. An email to the holders of that ticket type reaches them and nobody else. Each email stays listed with who sent it and how many people it reached.

On Messaging for your event, you start a new email. Under Audience, you choose Specific ticket type holders and tick the screening's ticket type. You enter the subject and the message, such as the new start time, and send it now or at a time you set.

Messaging is for what your ticket holders need to know about the event they bought, so turn on the switch that says the message is not for marketing. A test sent to yourself first shows how it reads on a phone.

Show Recipients lists everyone the email reached, with the time each person opened it. Messaging stays open until 15 days after your festival ends.

[Email the holders of one screening](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/email-your-buyers)

## Can a small film festival use Ticket Fairy?

Yes. You sell a weekend of short films in one cinema with the same tools as a ten-day festival across several cinemas, and free events cost nothing.

Free tickets carry no fee, and there is no setup fee and no required monthly fee. A weekend of short films can sell a weekend pass and a ticket type for each screening on one event, and scan them on your team's own phones.

The rest is there when you need it: Fai to build the program, the box office at the door, referral rewards to bring friends in, and the planning sections for filmmakers and press. Next year, you duplicate the festival and change the dates.

[Create your film festival's event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/create-an-event)

## Who pays the booking fee, us or the buyer?

The buyer, unless you choose otherwise. With Added, the default, the buyer pays the booking fee on top and you receive the full ticket price. Absorbed suits you when the price in your program has to be the price at checkout, and the fee comes out of what you receive.

You choose once for each event, on the Tickets page or while you create the event, and every pass, screening ticket and add-on follows it. The choice comes before your first ticket type, because you cannot switch between Added and Absorbed once ticket types exist.

The booking fee depends on the ticket price and your event's country. It falls as a percentage as prices rise, with a small minimum on low prices, and your Ticket Types table shows the exact amount for every price you enter. Free tickets carry no fee.

[Choose who pays the booking fee on your festival](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/set-who-pays-the-fees)

## When do we get our ticket money?

You get it as tickets sell, once you link your own payment processing account and it is active. If you choose to be paid out after your event instead, Ticket Fairy processes the payments and pays you 10 to 15 business days after the event finishes.

With your account linked before your program goes on sale, you are paid as tickets sell. Your publish review shows when the money for your festival arrives. Paid out after your event needs nothing set up, so you can publish straight away.

When you are paid after the event, the money goes to the account under Payout Details on your brand, and one event can use a different account. It is worth checking before closing night, because a payout already sent to an old account has to be recalled. Pending refund requests or chargebacks extend the wait.

[Check the payout for your festival](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/check-your-payout)

## Can I show festival passes apart from single screenings on my event page?

Yes. Your ticket types sit in ticket categories, such as Passes, Friday and Saturday, and each category appears as its own heading on your event page.

On your event, under Tickets, you find Ticket Categories and select Create. You enter a Category Name buyers will recognize, pick every ticket type that belongs in it under Ticket types in this category, then select Create Category.

A category with at least one visible ticket type shows as a heading, and a ticket type left on No category stays in the main list. You can rename a category or move ticket types between categories at any time, and they stay on sale while you do.

[Group your passes and screenings into categories](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/group-your-tickets-into-categories)

## Can buyers pick their seat for a screening?

Yes. Buyers pick their exact seat on a seat map with numbered seats, price zones and accessible seats. Your Ticket Fairy contact builds the seat map with you from each cinema's layout.

Each ticket shows its seat in the order. When a buyer needs to move, you open their order and select Change Seat beside the ticket, pick a free seat and save. The ticket keeps its barcode, and the old seat goes back on sale.

A cinema without numbered seats sells unreserved places instead, up to the number of seats you set for the screening.

[Sell reserved seats for your screenings](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/seating-and-timed-entry)

## How do press and industry guests get their passes?

You issue them from Accreditation on your festival. You choose the zones and days each pass opens, bring in your approved press, and issue each person a pass that scans at your cinema doors like a ticket.

On the event, you select Operations, then Accreditation. You add your zones under Zones and pass types, such as Press screenings and Industry lounge, and choose what each pass type gives: the zones it opens, the days it works and its hours.

With Bring in people, Fai adds your approved press, crew and filmmakers' guests to the list. Each person waits for a pass, and nobody gets one until you issue it. With approval rules, each request goes to the person who signs it off, who approves or declines it from their phone.

Get a photo link on a pass lets the journalist add their own photo, and you then tick the passes and print A6 lanyard badges or cards with the name, photo, zones and entry code.

[Issue press and industry passes for your festival](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/issue-accreditation-passes-for-your-event)

## Can a film club sell one pass for a season of monthly screenings?

Yes. You can sell an event pass from your brand's Event Passes page. A member pays once for a number of screenings and books the nights they want from their own account, including nights you have not announced yet.

Under Event Passes for the brand, you select Create a pass. You name it for what the member gets, such as Winter Season Pass, and enter how many screenings it covers in Events per pass. You choose under When does it expire? whether it never expires, ends on a set date or runs for a number of months from each purchase.

You enter the price and, if you want a limit, the number in Total for sale. Each screening night goes under Included events, or you attach your season's series, and every event in it counts, including the ones you create later.

Each night a member books uses one event of the pass, so two bookings on one night let them bring a guest.

[Sell one pass that covers your season of screenings](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/sell-a-pass-that-covers-several-events)

## How do I get more people into my weekday afternoon screenings?

Your partners, schools and film societies can have their own promo codes for the screenings that need help, and every buyer can earn money back when friends buy through their referral link. You can also email last year's audience before your program launch.

Under Marketing, then Promotions, you create a promotion with the discount, the screenings it covers and a code for each partner. Sales by Promo Code on Performance shows the tickets and revenue each code brought in, so you can see which partner filled which screening.

Each poster, partner and post can have its own tracking link, so you see what each one sold, and a group discount for schools gives their class the lower price at checkout without a code.

[Create promo codes for your partners and film societies](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/create-promo-codes)

## Can schools and groups get a lower price per ticket?

Yes. With a group discount, checkout gives the lower price by itself once a basket reaches the group size you set. Nobody has to find or enter a code.

Under Marketing, then Promotions, you select Create promotion. You add a code for your own records, select Add tickets and tick the screenings the group price covers, choose Percentage Discount and enter the amount. You enter the group size in Auto-apply when cart reaches this many tickets, then select Create.

A second group discount with a larger size and a larger discount covers bigger groups, and a basket gets the one with the larger group size. Sales by Promo Code on Performance shows the tickets and revenue each group discount brought in.

[Offer group discounts on weekday screenings](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/offer-group-discounts-on-event-tickets)

## Can buyers get a refund if they cannot come?

Yes, when you allow it. With self-refunds on, buyers refund their own tickets from their order page on the terms you agree with Ticket Fairy. You can also refund a whole order yourself from the Orders page.

On your event, under Tickets, then the Settings tab, you turn on Allow customers to initiate refunds. You then save the ticket settings. You can turn self-refunds on only while Ticket Fairy still holds the money for your festival, so choose before your payout is released.

To refund an order yourself, you open it on the Paid tab of Orders and select Refund from its row menu. Ticket Fairy emails you a six-digit code to confirm it is you, and the face value goes back to the buyer's card. The tickets stop working at once and go back on sale.

[Let buyers refund their own tickets](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/let-buyers-refund-themselves)

## Can I ask my audience what they thought after closing night?

Yes. You can send a feedback survey to everyone who checked in and see your Net Promoter Score beside last year's, and Fai groups the comments into what people loved and what to improve next time.

On the event, you select Operations, then Feedback, and select Use the standard survey. It asks for an overall rating, how likely people are to recommend you, and what they liked and what to improve. You can change the questions, then select Schedule.

The survey suggests 10:00 the morning after your festival ends, in the event's time zone. Each person gets one email in their own language with their own link and no sign-in. Crew and guest passes are left out, and an attendee with several tickets is asked once.

The top improvements become tasks on next year's event, and this year's teams, pass types and forms copy into it with the dates moved.

[Ask your audience for feedback after your festival](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/ask-attendees-for-feedback-after-your-event)

## Can I sell a festival as a present?

Yes. You can sell a gift certificate worth a ticket type, such as your festival pass, or a fixed sum. The buyer pays now, and the person they give it to chooses when to use it.

On your event, you select Add Gift Certificate. You choose the Gift Certificate Type: for a ticket certificate, you choose the Ticket Type it covers, and Ticket Fairy fills in the price from it. For an amount certificate, you enter each sum you want to offer.

You set the Duration (months) from the day it is bought. For a festival held once a year, a duration that matches the gap between editions means a certificate given at Christmas still works at next year's festival.

[Sell gift certificates for your festival](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/sell-gift-certificates)

## Can my volunteers scan tickets without seeing our sales?

Yes. Each volunteer joins as Door Staff. That login opens the Entry Fairy scanning app and nothing in your dashboard, and every admission carries the name of the person who scanned it.

Under Team on your brand, you select Add Team Member, enter the address of each person who scans, choose Door Staff and select Send Invitation. Someone who works this festival only joins from the event's own Team page, so their access covers this festival alone.

Each person installs Entry Fairy from the links in their invitation and signs in with their own login. A scan at one cinema door shows on every other phone, so a ticket that admits once is refused at the next door, with the time and the name of whoever let it in.

[Prepare your volunteers for the cinema doors](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/prepare-your-door-team)

[Ticket Fairy for film festivals](https://www.ticketfairy.com/solutions/film-festivals)

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---

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